PROFESSOR DYLAN JONES-EVANS

As noted last week, the economic manifesto from the Welsh Labour Party for the 2021 Senedd elections is very much a continuation their approach during the previous five years with few ideas put forward to radically transform the Welsh economy.  In contrast, Plaid Cymru’s long and detailed manifesto seemingly wants to change everything and is teeming with countless ideas that aim to create a new and very different approach to economic development. The main challenge in trying to assess this manifesto is that it does seem, at times, like a white board full of post-it notes that has yet to be honed sufficiently into the small number of key priorities that any party forming a government would need to focus on to deliver a coherent programme over the next five years.  Nevertheless, there are some interesting proposals that could be impactful on changing the direction of the Welsh economy. Perhaps the most significant is the focus on the “Local First” principle which aims to  i...

Following the recent elections for the leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the National Assembly, the next political party to have a leadership election is Plaid Cymru. Given that it has already been in coalition with Labour between 2007 and 2011 and there is a high possibility, if there is no overall majority, that this may happen again, it is worth examining the economic policies of the three candidates as one of them could well be responsible for the Welsh economy after the next election. Let’s start with the current leader, Leanne Wood, who has argued that the structure of the British economy - which she suggests is based on selling financial services of dubious actual value around the world, and on property bubbles in big cities. This stifles enterprise in a small rural economy like Wales that is rich in natural resources while dragging its young people to the south east to work in jobs that may be financially rewarding, but are often of limited social worth. Under her co...

As we are all aware, tourism is one of the major industries here in Wales, employing thousands of people and bringing wealth into local communities across the region. Whilst business support for tourism has been devolved to the Welsh Government since 1999, the general election in eight days time still gives us the opportunity to assess the level of importance attached by each of the parties to the industry. Indeed, many would argue that it has become largely a forgotten industry when it comes to government economic policy over the last two decades, certainly as compared to interventions for sectors such as oil and gas, manufacturing and the creative industries. Yet tourism could contribute so much more to the development of the UK economy if it was properly supported. Given this, what have the main political parties promised the industry if they gain power next week? As the British Hospitality Association point out, perhaps the biggest disappointment is to be found in Labou...

Who would have thought that a quango that many thought was dead and buried would be hitting the political headlines last week. Yes, it would seem that there are those who still yearn after the Welsh Development Agency (WDA), the body that for many years was responsible for delivering economic development in Wales, mainly through the attraction of overseas inward investors. However, it would seem that the current First Minister is not a fan and will certainly not be entertaining any thoughts of bringing back the WDA. Indeed, in a response to a question in the chamber of the national Assembly for Wales, Carwyn Jones stated that the “The WDA had its day 20 years ago. But for the whole of the last decade, and most of the ’90s, it delivered absolutely nothing.” That is not too surprising, given that he was a member of the Government that abolished the body back in 2006, a decision that was supported by Plaid Cymru at the time. Yet it would seem from their party conference over t...

As regular readers will know, I have been a constant advocate for lower business rates for smaller businesses in Wales since I started writing my first newspaper column for the Daily Post back in 2003. And it would seem that this vital issue is now something that has become popular again amongst politicians in Wales. Last year, we saw t he publication of a Welsh Government commissioned review , chaired by Professor Brian Morgan of Cardiff Metropolitan University (above), into whether changing the business rates regime in Wales could aid economic development. And not to be outdone, Plaid Cymru have now made an announcement on the future of business rates in Wales at their annual conference in Aberystwyth . This would mean that firms with a rateable value of less than £10,000 would pay no business rates (rather than the £6,000 ceiling at present) and firms would qualify for reduced business rates if their rateable values were below £15,000 (rather than £12,000 under the current...